UP THE RIO NEGRO, DOWN TO THE AMAZON

 

In 2008, I cruised the Amazon on a 90-foot 19th century replica of a Brazilian riverboat for seven days. Our journey began in Manaus, a Covid hotspot in 2020 and one of the world's hardest hit areas, where it was necessary to dig mass graves due to the high death toll. This article first appeared in the Sunday Living section of The News, Mexico City, March, 2008.

River Boat Tucano (My Brazilian Tours)

I sat with Edivan, one of our two jungle guides, inside the sunny, wood-paneled salon of the Motor Yacht Tucano, an elegant 90-foot, nine cabin replica of a 19th century Brazilian riverboat, and watched lush, pulsating rainforest float by as we headed up the Rio Negro. 

LAST OUTPOST OF CIVILIZATION

We were cruising through the world's largest river island system, the Anavilhanas Archipelago in the heart of the Amazon, sometimes called the lungs of the planet, and by mid-afternoon we'd be well past Manaus, Amazonas, a former frontier settlement with a population of 1.5 million, known as the last outpost of civilization. 

Map of Amazon Basin (Brazil Travel Guide) 

"Is there hope for the future of the rainforest?" I asked the serious, competent man who would show the 12 of us on board both the obvious and hidden beauties of the vast eco-system we were entering.

"That's like asking do you believe in God?" he countered. "You've got to have faith in something. Me, I have faith in the forest but I believe it can get better. We can get better. But people's ignorance always gets in the way.

"Today everyone is more worried about the state of the forest, not just for the trees, but for its food, its oil and it's vegetables."

"I read," I interjected, "in 2003, almost 150,000 square kilometers of Amazon's rainforest disappeared, about the size of New Hampshire. Is this ongoing?"

RUBBER AND SOY

Edivan, Our Guide

"Because of globalization," Edivan continued, as a shadow crossed his face,"we are all merged together. The future looks very dark but many things are happening. Before the problem was rubber."

"Like with Chico Mendes?" I asked. "The environmentalist who stood up to the rubber industry when 180,000 rubber trees were destroyed along with a million valuable hardwoods?"

"In 1988 Mendes was murdered for his beliefs," Edivan said. "Now it's not the rubber industry. It's not even cattle ranching. Now the threat is soy. If anyone stands up to the soy producers, they will die."

He sweeps his hand past the finely crafted mahogany windows toward the translucent green forest and that dark, flat river,

"See how thick the forest is? The Rio Negro, this part of the Amazon, has heavy sediment from falling leaves which creates a high pH balance and turns the water black. It makes it hard for life, for fish, to survive, unlike the Amazon where everything thrives. Maybe a thousand people live in this large region. Maybe. I don't think they can bulldoze it down here." Finally I saw the possibility of a smile.

I gazed out at 150-foot high trees. They're staggering in height although in reality, I thought they'd be taller. I was told by Aguimaldo, our indigenous guide, that farther inland, they are. Anything you can see from shore has already been cut, so this could be second or third generation.

HEART OF THE AMAZON

My dialogue with Edivan continued on this seven-day journey into the heart of the Amazon. Daily we divided into two groups, climbed into outboard rigged wood canoes, and took excursions up small tributaries and canals off the Rio Negro. We saw ringed kingfishers, pink dolphins, blue macaws, red macaws, white-throated toucans, three-toed sloths, squirrel monkeys, green ibis, reddish egret, wattled Jacanas, black nun birds, Amazon kingfish, yellow cacique, puffbirds, black collared hawks, white-tailed trojans, and crimson topaz hummingbirds. For starters.

Reflection of Trees on Amazon (Research Gate) 

We took forest walks wearing leather leg chaps from knee to ankle for protection against snakes. We saw buttressed trees, bullet ants, medicinal plants. We met a subsistence farmer and his wife who grow manioc root and process it into tapioca. We stopped at a boat building factory in a local village where the Tucano was built ten years ago. We saw the flooded forest where water levels will rise 20 feet in just a few months. We sat in canoes at dawn to watch the sun rise over the river. Occasionally we would get caught in a light, tropical rain storm.

Cruising the River 

In between excursions we came back to the boat to eat incredible food prepared by Gemma and Angelina, our cooks, from the smallest most cramped kitchen you can imagine. The dining room buffet at meal times overflowed with fresh salads and fruits—some which I hadn't seen before—along with rice and beans,  vegetables, chicken, occasionally a meat dish, and always a spectacular freshly caught fish.

Tucano Dining Room (My Brazilian Tours)

The desserts make me gain weight by proxy. Even at breakfast there's cake on the table and at dinner, not only cake but a Brazilian custard made with papaya, coconut, pineapple, or crème brulée or flan. Some nights there would be something conjured from manioc root, the food staple which takes shape in everything from cakes to breads. And no meal was complete without fresh squeezed juice.

WELCOME TO THE AMAZON

We'd landed in Manaus in the heart of the Amazon rainforest to begin this journey in late January. Copa Air dropped us from Miami into a small, dilapidated airport where one unruffled immigration officer diligently stamped tourist visas. On the side of the runway, four vine-covered DC 10s languished in various stages of mold and decay, a startling example of nature at work. Welcome to the Amazon. 

Convergence of Rio Negro and Amazon (by Isopada)

The Motor Yacht Tucano river trip would combine the best elements of the Rio Negro for 300 kilometers north before heading back to the Amazon, or Solimoes River, as it's known to the locals, where we'd see the confluence of the waters. The Rio Negro's black water converges just outside Manaus with the white or café au lait colored Amazon. It's a spectacular sight, this distinct color variation that stretches for seven kilometers.

I'd researched the trip intensely before deciding on the Tucano. It was either that or a people's ferry. The guidebooks I'd read all assured me I'd have everything stolen on the ferry plus I'd have to sleep in a hammock, possibly on an open deck, with strangers. No. No. No. Twenty years ago I wouldn't have thought twice about it, but this was now.

HOTEL TROPICAL

We arrived a few days early and checked into Hotel Tropical, a well-preserved, gentile grandy with 600 rooms, 13 kilometers from Manaus. Towering tress surrounded walled gardens that circled the hotel. Our drive passed the hotel zoo, the tennis courts, the carefully marked trees, on a wide asphalt road. I spot white columns rising over a sweeping entrance. Inside, a 40-foot atrium adjoins a long, L-shaped reception desk. Heavy dark woods prevail along with high-vaulted ceilings. I'm ensconced in my favorite type of luxury—colonial turn-of-the-century in a jungle setting. Heaven. 

Vintage Luggage Label, Hotel Tropical

In Brazil, size is not an issue: everything is huge. We walk what seems miles to our room; the bellboy shows us into an attractive 30 x 40 foot suite with French doors overlooking a terrace. Dark wood trim adorns all closets and mirrors as does the Brazilian granite—Jacinta, speckled grey-rose-black—that I will soon identify in every bathroom, every bar, every countertop throughout the country.

At this point I still haven't seen the water flush the opposite way as I've heard it does in the Southern Hemisphere. The hotel has low flow toilets but not so for the shower. With the mighty Amazon just 200 feet from our window, the shower blasts me with the force of a fire hose, filling the glass shower stall and floor so quickly I turn off the faucet a moment so the drain can catch up. We languish in this gracious spot two days before boarding the Tucano.

YOU CAN'T PICK YOUR NEIGHBORS

"Do you know what an alligator feels like? It feels like a purse, ha ha," laughed one of the less lustrous of our travel companions. "Or a pair of boots."

Thank God there were ten others who could drown out this bloke's personality disorder. On booking the cruise, my main fear was the human factor—not snakes, piranha, or jaguars. I feared the species Americana Erectus—the strident mouthpiece I seemed to never avoid, even by moving to Mexico. After a few days I removed myself from conversations and sought solace and found it. In the upstairs deck.

THE UPSTAIRS DECK

Painted spic-and-span white and peppered with lounge furniture I enjoy the balmy breezes and near 360 degree views of river and forest. In the morning the river is flat as a lake and Dante Inferno red. The perfectly mirrored reflection of trees in the water is apparent even under cloudy, mottled skies. From my vantage point I see a half moon of green wild rice, shockingly florescent in color, like a stubbled layer of beard on a man's chin. I hear a flock of scarlet macaws jabbering in the distance long before I see them; their brilliant feathered bodies jettison out of faraway trees, all the while squawking incessantly.

Author on Tucano's Upstairs Deck

I rejoin the group for most outings but now I've located my escape hatch and retreat back to it a few more times before the journey's end. Our last day is spent on the Amazon at the confluence of the waters. We're two degrees off the equator and a full moon rises that night in the tropical sky. Gazing out at large container ships in the distance, I'm glad I could take this journey into Amazonas, a place that is far from fully explored, where there is more Amazon rainforest and indigenous people than any other place in Brazil.

Living Section, The News, Mexico City 2008

RAINFOREST UPDATE: Deforestation Statistics in Brazil's Rainforest (Reuters) 

Year-to-date deforestation in Brazil remains nearly double what it was during January to August, 2018, before Jair Bolsonaro became president and took immediate steps to weaken environmental enforcement prompting a boom in logging. A Reuters news agency witness traveling in southern Amazonas state during August (2021) saw massive fires billowing smoke miles into the air with the haze blanketing the landscape. Many fires were near the edge of existing cattle pastures. Much of the burned land will likely become pasture too, with cattle ranching the main driver of deforestation, according to a draft of a landmark study compiled by 200 scientists and published July 2021.

Smoke from Burning Vegetation in Amazonas state (Reuters)

If  you enjoyed this post, check out my memoir Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya. It's available on Amazon with tales of expat life and living within 100 miles of four major pyramid sites. Also, check out my website at www.jeaninekitchel.com. Books one and two in my Mexico cartel trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival, and Tulum Takedown, are available on Amazon where my overview of the 2012 Maya calendar phenomenon, Maya 2012 Revealed—Demystifying the Prophecy, can also be found. 

  

TRIBUTE TO A MERIDA TRADITION—ALBERTO'S CONTINTENTAL PATIO RESTAURANT

                                    

Plaque on Alberto's wall (Yucatán Times)

Since the holidays are upon us, what better time to reminisce about food and places we just couldn't get enough of. My pleasure with Alberto's Continental Patio restaurant in Merida went so far that I even wrote it into the story of Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival.

"Clay and Layla stopped in front of Alberto's Continental Cuisine, a white-washed mansion turned restaurant a few blocks from the main plaza. After a quick nod of acceptance from Layla, the couple entered. Inside they discovered an oasis filled with antiques and art.

The back wall displayed Madonna art, all in wood and brass next to an ethereal painting of a floating Guadalupe along with a twelve foot cross displayed amid Maya idols. They walked up polished marble stairs to where an older gentleman in a tired business suit stood next to a mostradore." 

Alberto Salum (by Joe Stines)

For the record, Merida is a city obsessed with food, from street vendors selling peso-tasty tacos and salbutes to high-end establishments sporting white tablecloths, silver candelabra, and old school wait staffs trained to anticipate your every need. Alberto's fell into the latter category.

ALBERTO SALUM

Though Alberto's Continental Patio has been closed since 2013, then reincarnated as Patio 57 until 2018, I'm sharing a memory of both the iconic restaurant and it's equally charming and loquacious owner, Alberto Salum. It is with great sadness I report Alberto died October 1, 2021, in Merida. He was in his eighties.

Outdoor patio, during Patio 57 reincarnation. (TripAdvisor)

His great-grandfather had migrated to Mexico from Syria in 1894, and Alberto and his brother José were Mexican born and bred, perfect delegates for the glories and grandeur of the country, city and peninsula they called home. Alberto's Continental Patio was an ode to not only their chosen city, Merida, but to foods native to Merida, the Yucatán Peninsula, and Syria, their family's homeland, though the restaurant's Lebanese dishes were borrowed from their great-grandfather's recipes. 

MENU POTPOURRI

What? you say. How does one combine shish kebab, baba ghanoush, and hummus with chicken pibil, gulf seafood, and margaritas? With innovation and grace, found in copious amounts at Alberto's. It's why, as stated in Alberto's obituary in the Yucatán Times, "the strikingly handsome dining spot was full of character, with an eclectic collection of antiques, paintings, and sculptures."

And oh, what an assortment of art! I stumbled onto the restaurant on an early trip to Merida in the late 1980s. Wanting to not be too near the main plaza, we began to make wider concentric loops around the tourist district and hit pay dirt when we fell upon Alberto's at Calle 64 and Calle 57. 

Foyer of Alberto's Continental but during Patio 57 years

We entered and climbed the marble stairs that stretched onto a long, welcoming foyer. Before us on the left we viewed a wall chock full of grand paintings. Directly in front of us was a massive credenza. Standing next to it was a tall older gentleman in a tired business suit. He smiled and made a slight bow. Could it be Alberto? Indeed it was!

"Dinner?" he asked, waving menus with a flourish. We nodded.

"Dining room?" He pointed to a well-lit room on his right filled with a long center table and a number of four-tops placed around it. Crisp white table cloths and silver candelabra lit by gorgeous glass chandeliers gave the room a patina of pageantry and decorum. "Or," and he paused theatrically as he pointed to his left, "The courtyard garden?" 

CHOICES

A difficult choice. I couldn't take my eyes off the lavish dining room with its sublime lighting, the pomp and circumstance.

He must have seen the pickle I was in. Glamorous dining room or jungly courtyard that bore a tumble of palms, orchids, bromeliads and dead center, the largest banyan I'd yet to see. White linen-draped tables surrounded the massive tree and an ornamental bar to one side boasted more art—but this time with crucifixes in every conceivable material. They cluttered the wall above a liquor-laden mahogany counter, a dueling oxymoron of sin.

Wall behind bar in a more recent iteration (Yucatan Times)

But that first night, I was drawn to the spacious dining room with its sublime lighting and decorum. An obliging smile crossed his lips. "First would you like a cocktail in the courtyard? A margarita? Then we'll move to the dining room."

We followed him as though he was the Pied Piper. He moved towards the Holy Bar to mix up a couple concoctions after seating us with another flourish at the perfect table. We were the only customers to be had. We fell on the drinks as though we'd spent a waterless month in the Sahara. A not wholly unexpected second round was to follow.

As we entered the dining room. Alberto found us another perfect spot. Only one other table was occupied at the far corner of the room and the couple appeared ready to depart. He brought menus, we ordered, and after we finished a delectable meal, he walked over to check if everything had been up to par.

AND SO IT BEGINS

Here is where the true story begins. Or as Alberto would often say, "And that's how my story began in the land of Yucatán."

"Would you like to see my private collection in the back?" he asked without fanfare.

Indeed we would. He took us down a hall crowded to near overflow with antiques and paintings into a small crowded room. The walls were crammed with oil paintings. Pre-Columbian style artwork sat on the floor—statues, plaques, artifacts. He had numerous stories about it all and we were rapt listeners as this highly unusual raconteur talked on. He told us the building itself dated back to 1727 and was adorned with some of the original stones from the Maya temple it replaced. The mosaic floors were from Cuba. I'm sure much more was said but one can only take in so much. (Damn those margaritas).

Mosaic floors in Patio 57 phase (TripAdvisor)

Perhaps this occasion of seeing his back rooms and hearing unbelievable stories of Merida, the art world, the Yucatán and his early life in nearby pueblo Sisal as a cloth salesman before opening the restaurant, a short stint in Palo Alto, CA, as a dentist, and archeological tales about pyramid sites—not to mention the great food—were what bequeathed him early on a successful business that was lauded by numerous and well-known reviewers. His secret: he treated the place as if it was his own living room.

THE HEYDAY

According to obit writer Lee Steele, Merida had already changed quite a bit from its 1960s, '70s and 80's heyday, back when it was listed in guide books and travels stories. In 1985, The New York Times food writer R.W. Apple Jr. included Alberto's "lime soup" and excellent Arab dishes in a nationwide list of recommended dining spots. And ten years later, Susan Spano, also of the Times, called Alberto's a "culinary institution."

"At my courtyard table there, I could see the stars between the branches of an ancient rubber tree snuggled against the wall. Candles glowed. A guitarist played. The menu featured Mexican, Yucatan, and Lebanese dishes—which make surprisingly happy plate mates," she wrote. Even Diana Kennedy, famous expat Mexican author, in her Essential Cuisines of Mexico cookbook clocked in when she described being in his kitchen and charbroiling a chicken for the recipe Pollo en Escabeche.

Outdoor patio (Yucatan Magazine)

Alberto's was a romantic restaurant of the old school. The curved Moorish arches, the mosaic floor. And, as stated by Yucatán Times, it's antiquity was underscored by the countless antiques and oils, archeological relics in this softly lit over-the-top charming hacienda.

What star was I born under that I could experience Alberto and his cuisine over and over again? Every chance I had I dragged our family and guests that three-hour drive from Puerto Morelos to Merida. We'd spend the night in the Gran Hotel in the historic district, play all day in Merida's many markets and shops and walk its narrow streets. Around seven we'd head over to Alberto's. It's still a fond memory for them all, I am delighted to say; you simply cannot forget Alberto. 

"No one met Alberto and left without a story, a memory, or artifact," said Joe Stines, a close friend.

Gran Hotel in Merida

If you enjoyed this post, check out my memoir Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya. It's available on Amazon with tales of expat life and living within 100 miles of four major pyramid sites. Also, check out my website at www.jeaninekitchel.com. Books one and two in my Mexico cartel trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival, and Tulum Takedown, are available on Amazon where my overview of the 2012 Maya calendar phenomenon, Maya 2012 Revealed—Demystifying the Prophecy, can also be found. 

 

 

ANCIENT MAYA QUEEN LADY SIX SKY CONQUERS THE YUCATÁN PENINSULA

Stela found at Naranjo of Lady Six Sky (or K'awiil Ajaw)

PART 4 

Warrior queens were not uncommon in the waning days of the Late Classic Period of the Maya, roughly 600 to 900 AD, though their domains tended to be concentrated in southern Mexico and Guatemala.

              

Map showing Dos Pilas, Naranjo, Calakmul and Tikal by Todd Decker

LADY SIX SKY

The warrior queen Lady Six Sky, also known as Lady Ik Wak Chan Ajaw or K'awiil Ajaw, entered the world in the seventh century, 667 AD to be exact, in Dos Pilas in the Peten, Guatemala, but during the course of her life, traveled far from there. And what a winding road she took while serving as de facto ruler of the city Naranjo, once if not twice, as she waged war against numerous competitors.

Drawing of Lady Six Sky from Stela 24 by artist/scholar Linda Schele

Born into a centuries-old ruling dynasty of Dos Pilas, at a young age she was selected over her older brother to be sent to the failing capital of Naranjo. At that time, first born sons stayed in the kingdom while second sons would normally be dispatched to handle tricky political or military business, so this situation was unique. Instead, the king used her as a political pawn as part of an arranged marriage between the Maya cities of Dos Pilas, where she was from, and Naranjo, to bring it into the Calakmul-Dos Pilas alliance and to help regenerate its obliterated dynasty.

Rendering of Dos Pilas from Alcheron, the Free Encyclopedia

Her father authorized the young princess to clean up the city which was in a shambles as indicated by hieroglyphics and stela dated at that period. (Stela are large limestone slabs placed in front of pyramids to commemorate births, deaths, victories). Stelas Number 24 and 29 from Naranjo depict Lady Six Sky trampling captives in a manner well-known to warrior kings, evidence that she'd taken her father's marching orders seriously.

A child of Lady B'ulu' and Calakmul ruler B'alaj Chan K'awill, her courageous deeds helped assure that her dynasty retained power. Though she was always loyal to her home, she became known as one of Naranjo's rulers during the Late Classic Period. Monuments note she was also a spiritual leader. Even though she performed many rituals she was never given the title Holy Lady Six Sky. She was also a day keeper of the Maya calendar, counting moon phases and one such ceremony commemorating the Long Count calendar was memorialized on Stela 29 at Naranjo. In it, the caption indicates she is impersonating a goddess, and is dressed in spiritually charged regalia. In the portrait she underscored both her strategic prowess and divine right to rule.

Stela 29 text, drawing Linda Schele

Archeologist Kathryn Reese-Taylor (University of Calgary) found the epigraph or inscription from the work of renowned Maya scholar Linda Schele which revealed that at the height of the rainy season in 683, a Maya princess from Dos Pilas (now in what is west Central Guatemala) arrived in shattered Naranjo, just west of the Belize-Guatemalan border.

Enemy kings had long fought over the region's lucrative river trade, which had prompted her father to dispatch his daughter to marry the king, indicating a declaration of peace. When the ruler died shortly after they married, he left Lady Six Sky in charge.

She didn't blink, stepping deftly into the role of leader. Over five years, she launched eight military campaigns, torching the cities of her enemies.

Her successful battlefield record helped archeologist Reese-Taylor understand the trajectory of women warriors through Maya history. And as evidenced by Parts 1-3 of Maya Musings' warrior queen posts, Lady Six Sky wasn't the only Maya princess who scooped up the reigns of power.

Rendering of Maya Warrior Queen from Discover magazine

Beginning in 2004, another Maya archeologist and author of Ancient Maya Women, Traci Ardren (University of Miami), also sifted through evidence from royal tombs and inscriptions searching for traces of female rulers. Two dozen tombs of women queens have been discovered so far.

Ardren has "brought together studies from throughout the ancient Maya world to show that women were not sidebars in Maya society but significant actors in their own right," stated Reese-Taylor in a Discover magazine article detailing her recent Maya excavations.

Reese-Taylor is now building on Ardren's work and continues to search for clues about powerful queens who were also fierce warriors. (Women Warriors, Part 1, October 1).

 

Sacred White Road near Cobá, from News.Miami.edu

In her quest to conquer more Maya cities to better her clan, Lady Six Sky may have been affiliated with the Maya sac-be, a 62-mile sacred white road, that stretched from Cobá to Yaxuná, two cities in southern Mexico she sparred with during her conquering phase, according to Journal of Archeological Science.

"There's still no concrete evidence pointing to who built the elevated 26-foot wide road or how long it took to construct it," archeologist Travis Stanton (University of Riverside) told Live Science.

                                                                                                                                                                    

LiDAR scan of Sacred White Road, by Traci Ardren

But some scholars believe, as does Ardren, Lady Six Sky may have either constructed the road or used it—already built—for moving troops from Cobá to Yaxuná as she continued her warring phase. In 2021, an archeological team plans to complete a dig at the site of a settlement identified by new LiDAR (light detection and ranging technology) imaging scans. Scholars believe the white road that derived its name from sascab, a Maya limestone plaster, would have been visible even at night. The mixture for the road would eventually prove to be a recipe similar to that of Roman concrete.

Whatever the material, this road connected thousands of people and hundreds of villages across what was once harsh, jungly terrain. Whoever controlled it took ownership of the central Yucatán Peninsula.

Previous researchers found evidence that a queen of Cobá set out on

numerous wars of territorial expansion. If it was Lady Six Sky, whose 

Badly eroded stela at Cobá, photo Richard Crim 

image appears on a monument at Cobá, and she was said queen, she held that power. If eventually the stela is verified as Lady Six Sky, this sign of dominance and respect will secure her place as a ruler of great renown in the Maya world.

Lady Six Sky was first recognized in the 1960s by the famous Russian archeologist, Tatiana Proskouriakoff, pioneer of Maya inscriptions, who dubbed her Lady of Tikal. At the time, however, three Maya cities used the same emblem glyph, so it's not a sure sign she actually had affiliations with Tikal. And first and foremost, Lady Six Sky's loyalty was to Dos Pilas, where her death was recorded in 741 AD.

There are so many Maya mysteries yet to be uncovered, but thanks to ongoing excavations, one recurrent theme is dominant: Women, too, ruled the Maya world.

If you enjoyed this post, check out my memoir Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya. It's available on Amazon with tales of expat life and living within 100 miles of four major pyramid sites. Also, check out my website at www.jeaninekitchel.com. Books one and two in my Mexico cartel trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival, and Tulum Takedown, are available on Amazon where my overview of the 2012 Maya calendar phenomenon, Maya 2012 Revealed—Demystifying the Prophecy, can also be found. 

MAYA QUEEN'S DISCOVERY UNEARTHS GAME OF THRONES' STYLE PALACE INTRIGUE

 

Glyph of Lady Ikoom from Stela at El Perú-Waka

PART 3

Did palace intrigue exist a thousand years ago in the kingdoms of Maya kings and queens? Apparently so. As in the adage, "Revenge is a dish best served cold," some vindications were even cross-generational. A Calakmul king in Yucatán's southern lowlands retrieved an important stela (large limestone slab placed in front of pyramid sites) that had been discarded for nearly a hundred years. It was to be included in a burial chamber for his beloved queen and wife, Lady K'abel, and re-established the family connection of his wife and another famous woman ruler, Lady Ikoom, also from powerful Calakmul, famously known as the Snake kingdom, but generations earlier.

The discovery of Stela 44 at the Guatemalan El Perú-Waka' archeological site in 2013 unleashed a discussion about the ruling Maya kingdoms of Tikal, Calakmul, and El Perú-Waka' from the seventh century. Prior to the discovery of this large limestone slab, very little was known about the titans of these ruling factions at that time.

Maya World Map by Keith Eppich

INTRODUCING LADY IKOOM

Lady Ikoom, also known as White Spirit, was predecessor to one of the greatest queens of Maya civilization, seventh century Holy Snake Lord Lady K'abel, who was also the Kaloomté, or military commander, of El Perú-Waka'. (See Lady K'abel Supreme War Lord post, October 15, https://jeaninekitchel.blogspot.com).

Archeologists wager around 700 AD, Stela 44 was brought to the main city temple by command of Lady K'abel's husband, King K'inich Bahlam II, to be buried as an offering in the funeral rituals for his queen.

The right side of Stela 44 (Francisco Casteñada)

POLICITCAL PAWNS

Princesses first, both Lady Ikoom and Lady K'abel were used as political pawns in marriages to powerful rulers of the Snake Dynasty of Calakmul. Though Lady K'abel's name has been bandied about for fifteen years, until discovery of Stela 44, Lady Ikoom was unknown, as was her husband, Waka' King Chak Took Ich'aak.

Dr. David Freidel in El Perú-Waka' (Sci-News.com)

According to Dr. David Freidel, professor of anthropology in Arts and Sciences at Washington University, St. Louis, co-director at the El Perú-Waka' site in Guatemala with Lic. Juan Carlos Pérez, the discovery of this stela offers a wealth of new information about a "dark period" in Maya history sometimes known as The Hiatus. Stela 44 introduced the names of two previously unknown Maya rulers and the political issues that shaped their legacies.

NEW CHAPTER FOR EL PERÚ-WAKA'

Freidel's epigrapher, Stanley Guenter, who deciphered the hieroglyphic text, believes Stela 44 was originally dedicated roughly 1450 years ago, around 564 AD, by the Waka' dynasty king, Wa'oom Uch'ab Tzi-kin, or He Who Stands Up the Offering of the Eagle.

Scholars believe the stela was left out in the elements when political ideologies shifted and Ikoom and her husband's clan fell out of favor. But it's likely, said Freidel, that the king prized this stela because as scion of the Snake Dynasty, Lady Ikoom would have had a familial connection both to him and his wife. Fragments of another stela, Stela 43, found in the temple walls in 2013, also mention Lady Ikoom. In this stela, Ikoom is given pride of place on the front of that monument celebrating an event in 574 AD.

WAR AND POLITICAL INTRIGUE

The stela tells a riveting story of war and political intrigue. The front shows a king cradling a sacred bundle in his arms. Two other stela at this site share this same pose and were probably raised by King Chak Took Ich'aak, whose name was used earlier by two Tikal kings. It's likely that this king of Waka' was named after them and that his dynasty was as a Tikal vassal at the time he came to the throne, said Freidel.

Tikal, Guatemala (Shutterstock)

WHITE SPIRIT

The text describes the accession of Chak Took Ich'aak's son which was witnessed by Lady Ikoom, who was most likely his mother. Her title, White Spirit, suggests she was a holy person and was linked to the powerful Snake Kingdom monarchy of El Perú-Waka', a vassal state of Calakmul, making it likely that Lady Ikoom was a Snake princess, according to Freidel's epigrapher Guenter. 

Stanley Guenter cleans Maya glyphs at a Maya site

The inscription reveals the death of Chak Took Ich'aak's father, which ushered in a period of political turmoil as different groups grasped for supremacy. Chak Took Ich'aak's son ultimately took the throne.

Years later, by the king retrieving Stela 44 and bringing it to his wife's burial site, this action put things back in order to re-establish the leadership and imperial dynasty of his clan.

CHANGING ALLIANCES

Scholars, including Freidel, assume, "At some time in his reign, King Chak Took Ich'aak changed sides and became a Snake dynasty vassal."

But when he died and his son became heir to the throne, he did so under a foreign king, which Freidel's epigrapher, Guenter, argued— after deciphering the hieroglyphics—was the king of Tikal, not Waka. In other words, King Chak Took Ich'aak's son came under the power of Tikal. Somehow Queen Ikoom survived this existential change of political favor.

The Maya political landscape underwent a huge turnabout beginning 556 AD with the Snake Dynasty on the rise and Tikal in decline. "A dramatic tide shift occurred," continues Freidel, "when that same Tikal king, Wak Chan K'awii, was defeated and sacrificed by the Snake King in 562 AD."

Calakmul, home to Snake Dynasty

Two years after that major reversal, the new king and his mother raised Stela 44 at the pyramid site, giving the story outlined here. Game of Thrones indeed. Only difference, this one happened in the land of the Maya, not Westeros of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones' fame.

Stay tuned for Part 4 of Maya Warrior Queens. If you enjoyed this blog, check out my memoir Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya. It's available on Amazon with tales about ex-pat life and living within 100 miles of four major pyramid sites. Subscribe to my bi-monthly blog posts above, or check out my website at www.jeaninekitchel.com. Books one and two in my Mexico cartel trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival,  and Tulum Takedown are available also on Amazon.

MAYA WOMEN OF POWER — HOLY SNAKE LORD LADY K'ABEL, SUPREME WARLORD, PART 2

 

Rendition of Stela 44 Honoring Lady K'abel at Her Burial Site

Until fifteen years ago, Maya warrior queens were not the stuff of conversation much less legend in archeological circles. The idea was too far-fetched. The Maya hieroglyphic code had only been broken a few decades earlier in the 1970s at the famous Palenque Round Table talks in southern Mexico. Dozens of the world's finest archeologists and scholars gathered at the great site to put their heads together and try to break the problematic code. Besides that, hundreds of Maya sites had yet to be excavated. And no one had a clue as to how many sites were still undiscovered.

But in 2004, everything changed. Archelogist Kathryn Reese-Taylor, University of Calgary, headed a dig at a relatively unknown site, Naachtun. Sitting between powerful Tikal and Calakmul in the Yucatán lowlands of southern Mexico and northern Guatemala, Reese-Taylor and her team spent three months excavating the area. Their search proved fruitful and uncovered Lady Yohl Ik'nal, the Maya's first recorded female ruler, in 623 AD. (See Maya Warrior Queens Part 1, October 1 blog).

Maya queens rose to power after a seismic geo-political shift occurred in the mid seventh century. Power was moving into the area of the central lowlands and its vast forests in the middle of the Yucatán Peninsula.

Stela 34, Lady K'abel found in El Perú-Waka' 

ENTER LADY K'ABEL

In 2012 archeologists discovered the royal tomb of Lady K'abel, queen of the abandoned city El Perú-Waka', located in northern Guatemala between powerhouses Calakmul and Tikal. Known as the Centipede Kingdom, it played second fiddle to Calakmul, Snake Kingdom, that sat to the northeast. In a political power play, Lady K'abel, daughter of the ruler of Calakmul, was married to Tikal's ruler Kinich Balam II to serve as governor of El Perú-Waka' on her father's behalf. Archeologist Olivia Farr-Navarro (College of Wooster), a leader on the team, said they excavated the royal burial site located beneath a stairway platform located at the foot of the main Maya pyramid temple on site.

Archeologist Olivia Farr-Navarro at El Perú-Waka'site during excavation

STELA SHEDS LIGHT ON LADY K'ABEL

Until this discovery, scholars had known Lady K'abel as the Kaloomte', a Maya high king or queen who is military leader, the highest power in the kingdom. But Lady K'abel was hardly anonymous to those who studied the Maya. She had previously been identified by a stela (large limestone slab placed in front of a pyramid with hieroglyphic writing) that is on display at the Cleveland Art Museum, known as Stela 34 of El Perú. In it she is shown as a queen in warrior dress.

Investigation of this platform started before 2006 when Farr-Navrro studied under archeologist and author David Freidel, Washington University in St. Louis, and co-director of the site with Guatemala's Juan Carlos Pérez. El Perú-Waka' was being excavated by Freidel's team and planned to not simply uncover tombs but to focus on studying "ritually-charged" features such as shrines, altars, and dedicatory offerings.

CENTER OF RITUALS AND SACRIFICES

The city had long been a center of ritualistic activity and sacrifice, and signs implied it retained that significant presence long into the post-collapse era of the Maya after 900 AD when kings no longer ruled.

"The platform is the central focus point of the plaza in front of the largest temple at the site," said Farr-Navarro about El Perú-Waka'.  It was in a position of power.

Carved conch with woman's face emerging

As they dug at the foot of the staircase, long overshadowed by the platform, they found the entombed bones of a woman, surrounded by jade, fine pottery, and other signs of royalty. Most remarkable was a small alabaster jar carved to resemble a conch with a woman's face emerging from the shell as a stopper. The hieroglyphs for Lady K'abel's name were on the bottom.

WHITE SOUL FLOWER JAR DISCOVERED

The vessel, says Farr-Navarro, was most likely the "white soul flower" jar of Lady K'abel. Painted with red cinnabar, in ancient Maya mythology the flower jar essentially contained the soul of Lady K'abel. Though items can be moved around as a sign of veneration in burials, the white soul flower jar is an inalienable item that "could not be removed from her person," Farr-Navarro claims.

Clocking in to agree with Farr-Navarro's premise is archeologist Traci Ardren, from University of Miami, FL, and author of Ancient Maya Women. Though not part of the excavation, Ardren stated, "I'm completely convinced this was her tomb. The alabaster jar is really strong evidence."

The tomb site had been under study for almost a decade. Freidel and colleagues found artifacts suggesting a high-ranking female personage had been buried there, and Lady K'abel was the number one candidate. But it took the alabaster jar, small enough to fit in a queen's hand, to clinch the case. Carved to look like a shell, with head and arm of an aged woman emerging from the opening, four Maya hieroglyphs carved into the jar referred to the owner: Lady Snake Lord and Lady Waterlily Hand, two titles associated with Lady K'abel. Other artifacts found in the tomb suggest the person buried there was held in great reverence—red cinnabar pigment was used by the Maya in royal burial chambers and again, the white soul flower vessel, thought to hold one's soul, is specified in several Maya religious texts.

THE MAYA REVERED POWERFUL WOMEN

This find underscored the powerful role women played in the Maya world. At least eight women attained the Kaloomte' title held by Lady K'abel, Ardren said. Queens ruled at various times across the Maya world with standardized symbols for their titles. Though they may have been uncommon, they were not rare. And veneration of a powerful woman's tomb centuries after her death would not be so unusual. 

Alabaster jar on site with inscriptions of Lady K'abel

"She was married off for the greater good of the alliance between two cities. She left everyone and everything she'd known to travel to another city at a time of warfare."

A plate found on the left side of Lady K'abel's skeleton resembles a shield that would befit a warrior queen, Farr-Navarro explained. "Although it wasn't likely she'd fought in the rain forest battles that marked her reign, she was certainly not a shrinking violet."

Professor Freidel summed up the prime positioning of Lady Ka'bel's tomb: "In retrospect, it makes sense that the people of Waka' buried her in this particularly prominent place in their city. Archeologists now understand the likely reason why the temple wa so revered: K'abel was buried there."

LADY K'ABEL CONSIDERED GREATEST RULER OF LATE CLASSIC PERIOD

"Lady K'abel was considered the greatest ruler of the Late Classic period, and ruled with her husband, King K'inich Bahlam II for at least 20 years, from 672-692 AD," said Freidel. "She was the military governor of the Waka' kingdom for her family, the imperial house of the Snake King, and she carried the title Kaloomte' which translated to Supreme Warrior, higher even in authority than her husband, the king.

Figurine at El Perú site thought to be Lady K'abel

"She was not only a queen, but a supreme warlord, the most powerful person in the kingdom during her lifetime. That would put her in the same class as other ruling women of the ancient world, ranging from the biblical Queen of Sheba to Cleopatra."

After Lady K'abel's reign, Tikal's ruler continued their war against Waka' and Calakmul. By the middle of the eighth century, Tikal bested their rivals in the Maya superpower struggle. But by the middle of the ninth century, the Classic Maya civilization was on the way to its mysterious collapse.

In spite of that, even long afterwards, the lady's tomb remained a place of ritual, reverence, and pilgrimage for the Maya, apparently serving as a monument to a take-charge woman warrior who had gained her people's love and respect.

Part 3 in Maya Warrior Queens will include two more women rulers. If you enjoyed this blog, check out my memoir Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya. It's available on Amazon with tales about ex-pat life and living within 100 miles of four major pyramid sites. Subscribe to my bi-monthly blog posts above, or check out my website at www.jeaninekitchel.com. Books one and two in my Mexico cartel trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival,  and Tulum Takedown are available also on Amazon.